Why I Cried Over Spilt Applesauce

I'd like to begin this post with the knowledge of my extreme hatred for sweeping and mopping my kitchen floor. Embarrassingly, it's a rare occasion I mop, I purposefully bought tile that would disguise a filthy floor. It takes much to long and when it's done I become a Nazi about keeping it clean. And there always happens to be a huge spill a day or two later completely trashing my newly clean floor which them forces me to breath in and out deeply while repeating to myself that my family's feelings are more important than my silly floor. Imagine my horror when I was unloading groceries and a huge jar of applesauce fell through an unknown hole in the grocery bag and shattered EVERYWHERE! Not only was my dirty floor trashed forcing a mop job but there was glass clear to my bedroom door and sliding glass door. Oh the anger! Now I had to sweep, mop, AND vacuum (another chore on my hate list). Well, after an hour of sweeping and mopping followed by vacuuming my floor twice, I was covered in sweat with a floor that sparkled.

The Storm From No Where

So there Tatum was minding her own business, jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler when all the sudden, out of no where the wind starts blowing a thousand miles an hour and it starts pouring. I first thought how lucky she was to already be outside AND in her swim suit until I realized it was hitting her little body so hard and hurting her. She wasn't to happy.

In about five minutes our entry was flooded. What were they to do other than put on their boots and stomp in the puddles? Tuck didn't exactly have rain boots but his cow boy boots made his just as happy.

Tatum Starting School

School started on July 28th and Tatum started with it as a Kinderstepper. Not that she's really in school but she kind of is: every day, homework, PE. She was really nervous leading up to this big day but I think we talked about it enough that when it finally arrived she was ready. Her dad thought it appropriate to begin the day off on the right foot with donuts. Tatum, being the early riser she is, was up early enough to go with her dad and choose her donut. For some reason donuts are special to us but that's another post....Noni took her on a special date and got her some school clothes and this lovely back pack she picked out all herself. She picked her outfit and hairdo and was ready to begin her 18 very long years of school. And no, I didn't tell her she'd be going for 18 years, a day at a time, right?

Of course we had to take pictures together.

Waiting outside her classroom looking darling.

The teacher told us to give our children one last hug and kiss and then have them line up. I hugged and kissed her and as she walked she never looked back. No last smile or wave, nothing. Waaaaaaaaa! No tears were shed but come on, I wanted one last big smile to ease my heart.

Saturday at the Lake

Our good friends Kristi and JD invited us to the lake. My kids were born for the water! The minute we got on the boat they begged JD to go faster, faster. Tatum declared we move onto the boat and live at the lake. Ummm...probably not.

Here's JD, our Skipper!

The little friends came along, Cannon and Carly. Carly screamed and laughed the faster we went while Cannon was a bit unsure about the whole thing.
























Yeah for the lake!

Tatum immediately asked to go on the tube. She is such an animal, she's never afraid. Tucker refused to go on the first run and it was only after promising to go slow that he finally got on. Of course he loved it and he even asked to go faster.

The troops getting pulled in after their ride.

She loved the wind in her hair.

Chris showed off his rusty skills without any injuries!

Here he is, getting some sweet air. Hey there handsome!

It was really hot, imagine that, so the water felt so good to swim in.

Tucker loves water guns and Cheetos, notice the dirty mouth. He got a kick out of squirting us.

We had so much fun and we love the Rabans. Peace out!

Funny, Funny Tucker

Because I work with teeth I'm very particular about my blondies brushing their teeth. We always brush morning and before bed. Well, for some reason which I completely support, my mother image googled bad teeth and showed the pictures to T&T. What a mark it left! They absolutely refuse to go to bed without brushing because their teeth "will turn black" or they'll "get bloody teeth". Love it! Tucker has decided every time he eats anything he needs to brush. He puts a mountain of tooth paste on one of this 10 toothbrushes and scrubs away. What a funny little guy!

Another thing this funny dude does is go through clothes SO fast. I don't mean ruining them I mean he changes his undies, his jammies, his "outfits" at least once a day. I know this pile of clothes may not look like much but he has more clothes to put away than the rest of us combined. Check out his mountain of undies, he has like 7 night shirts. He's worse than a girl!

He also likes to sleep in his warm winter jammies with socks on and his cobers (as he calls them) pulled up to his chin. It's summer! Who wears jammies to bed? Not me!

4th of July Weekend

Our 4th of July morning up in Show Low, Az started busy. There was no time for breakfast (notice the back of Tatum's hair), there were patriotic outfits to wear, fun hair to do, and crazy hats to make all by 9:00 in time for the parade. Aren't these two girls adorable? Our friends the Morris's came with us. Here's Tabby and Tatum showing off their oh-so-festive hair and attire.


Alice and I made most of these adorable hats late the night before, who knew they'd be SO much work? We let the kids do the final touches.

Here they are... darling! This will for sure be a tradition every year, they turned out so cute and were so easy.

Of course we had to go to the parade, what's a 4th of July without a sweaty parade. LOVE the hats!

Watching the semi-boring parade. Tatum carried that flag around all day and for the entire weekend.

I know, enough with the hats, but aren't they so cute? They almost look like indians.

Watching the parade. There's Noni and Pops and my Auntie Kim and Alec in the background.

We discovered the louder we yell and the more we wave our arms the more candy gets thrown to us. To bad none of it was chocolate!

When I was growing up every time us kids asked my dad what he wanted to be when he grew up he ALWAYS said a taco, weird I know. Can you imagine his jealousy when this real live taco walked by! We all burst out laughing!

On my uncle's land he has horses, all though we didn't get to ride any the kiddies got to sit on them for, oh, 5 seconds. This horse was pregnant and I'm pretty sure it was just about her time. She didn't move an inch and her lower lip was quivering, poor thing, I feel your pain!

We also fed the horses apples. They seemed to like the red apples better!

There was a pond just a minute walk away. Every time we go there we always have to fish, we have yet to catch something. How cute is he!!

I love this picture, it looks so relaxing.

Tatum was a huge fan of rowing. Her and Tabby trying to get somewhere. Eventually they had to get rescued.

Because they weren't the best rowers dad came to the rescue and took them out.




Tucker was absolutely obsessed with the ores and carried one around the whole time we were at the pond.

They swam and swam, the water was scary, as you can guess the adults opted out.

The swings were also fun, if you get going fast enough you fly out over the water.